What is Public and Patient Involvement (PPI)?

Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) gives people with lived experience, including service users, carers, and members of the public, a voice in shaping health and social care. It allows them to influence how services and research are commissioned, planned, delivered, and evaluated. In our work, PPI means that people affected by depression, or those with personal insight into it, use their experiences to help guide and improve our research, ensuring it remains relevant, respectful, and focused on real-world needs.

Why is PPI important?

PPI is vital because it ensures that research is shaped by the people it aims to benefit. By involving patients, carers, and members of the public throughout the research process, we make our work more relevant, ethical, and impactful. Their lived experiences help us ask better questions, design more practical studies, and interpret results in ways that matter to real communities. PPI also helps build trust and transparency between researchers and the public, leading to outcomes that are more inclusive and meaningful.

PPI in the HOME Trial

Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) have been part of our research from the start. Members are service users and carers. Our members include individuals with lived experience and have included patients and carers who have used tDCS for depression.

Our members have been involved in putting together the study. With their lived experience, they have helped us to put together the study, including looking at our leaflets and information sheets, protocol, reviewing study progress, discussing what is expected for taking part, and helping us to understand and share the results.